Policy objectives for 2050 already achieved
Viessmann flagship project for resource
efficiency, climate protection, and job security
Although much lip service is paid to energy saving and reducing
CO2, there has been little concrete action. To show that the
sustainable energy era is possible, Viessmann has implemented a
flagship project as part of the company's sustainability strategy. It
is founded on an integrated concept for resource efficiency,
climate protection, and job security. The project has succeeded in
cutting fossil fuel consumption at the company's headquarters in
Allendorf (Eder) by 70 percent and CO2 emissions by 80 percent –
by implementing available technologies in an economic manner.
Viessmann has therefore set an example, proving that the German
government's energy and climate policy targets for 2050 can
already be achieved today. All technologies required to do this are
currently available on the market.
Innovative energy concept
The energy concept for the Allendorf site pursues a dual energy
strategy that combines improving efficiency and replacing fossil
fuels with renewable energies. It encompasses the construction of
a new energy center and the implementation of measures to
decrease the energy used by the manufacturing process. These
include:

Heat recovery center to exploit the waste heat generated
by the industrial processes

New high-efficiency machines and systems

Needs-oriented management of pumps, engines, and
lighting

Improvement of system hydraulics

Insulation of the building envelope
The energy center of the future
The energy center operates on both fossil fuels and renewable
energy, including oil, gas, biomass, solar energy as well as
ambient and geothermal heat. Innovative technologies such as
condensing units and CHP solutions ensure that the fuels are used
efficiently.
Biomass from Viessmann's own plantations
When it comes to renewable energy, Viessmann is committed in
particular to biomass, which is obtained locally from the company’s
own short-rotation plantations. Over an area of 170 hectares,
poplars and willows have been planted, which are harvested every
three years and used as an energy source in the form of
woodchips.
A dry fermentation biogas plant delivers an additional 2.7 MWh of
heat and power annually. These measures have increased the
share of biomass in the heat supply from 50 to about 80 percent.
The long-term goal is to supply all energy using this climatefriendly fuel source. This is governed by the principle of
sustainability; in other words, it only uses as much biomass as can
be regrown in the same period of time.
Biogas fed into the public grid by the system
In addition to the dry fermentation plant, a second biogas system
is operated by Viessmann's subsidiary Schmack Biogas, a wet
fermentation plant. Implementing a technology developed by
another Viessmann subsidiary, Carbotech GmbH, biogas is turned
into natural gas and fed into the public gas grid. This means that
the gas can be used to produce electricity and heat at any location
with a gas connection, regardless of where the gas was generated
in the first place. This technology produces 1.6 million cubic
meters of biogas from 15,000 tonnes of substrate annually. In
concrete terms, this biogas can provide 1,650 households with
electricity and 370 households with heat.
Job security
In addition to promoting resource efficiency and climate protection,
the flagship project also aims to boost the efficiency of work
processes and material efficiency.
The main purpose of improving the efficiency of work processes is
to increase the competitiveness of jobs and, in doing so, to help
secure the Allendorf site. With the introduction of lean production,
manufacturing structures and processes have been redesigned
according to efficiency criteria. As a result, productivity has been
increased by up to 20 percent, while space efficiency has been
improved by about 30 percent.
Material efficiency involves the economic use of raw materials in
the production process. Considerable improvements have also
been made in this area. In concrete terms, steel and water
consumption have been halved and the recycling rate has now
reached 99 percent.
Viessmann wins numerous accolades
Viessmann's flagship project was awarded the 2009 German
Sustainability Award in the category "Germany’s most sustainable
production", the 2010 Energy Efficiency Award by the German
Energy Agency (dena), and the internationally acclaimed ENERGY
GLOBE World Award. In 2011, the company also received the
German Sustainability Award in the category "Germany’s most
sustainable brand" and in 2013 in the category "Exemplary
resource efficiency".
Caption: Viessmann cultivates biomass at local short-rotation
plantations to provide the company's headquarters in Allendorf
(Eder) with energy.
March 2015